JUDGE'S POT RULING A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION FOR CANADA

Good for Judge Barry Strayer.

Most have probably not heard of the man, but he's the Ontario federal court
judge whose recent ruling allowed the very sick among us to more easily
obtain marijuana for medicinal purposes.

No matter your stance on the issue of pot, the facts are it helps many deal
with symptoms of debilitating diseases and live decidedly more normal lives
temporarily free of chronic pain.

Right now about 2,000 Canadians carry prescriptions that allow them to
legally purchase the intoxicating weed.

Many more sick people who don't want the hassle of dealing with the feds or
any other number of other reasons simply go to their neighbourhood dealer
to score some grass - which effectively makes criminals of them.

That is a patently ridiculous situation and judge Strayer saw it the same way.

Many fear his ruling could be the juggernaut that opens the door to full
decriminalization of marijuana - a situation a small majority of Canadians
support.

Maybe, and maybe that wouldn't be a terrible thing to happen.

Cops and others against marijuana rightly say illegal marijuana grow ops
finance organized crime.

No argument here. Booze did the same thing during prohibition.

In addition to creating a powerful underground criminal element that
provided liquor to those who wanted it, the argument has been made the days
of Al Capone and Lucky Luciano also formed the foundation for which all
present criminal organizations use as a blueprint.

During prohibition, untold amounts of dollars and resources were used to
combat bootleggers and their customers.

All that manpower and all that cash to fight something the majority said it
wanted.

Sound familiar?

Think of the millions of dollars we'd save if pot was decriminalized, not
to mention the resources it would free up to allow cops to get hard drugs
and toughened criminals off the street.

That's not to say all illegal drugs should be put in the same category as
weed; no one could responsibly argue crack cocaine or crystal meth do
anything other than create addicts and career criminals.

Marijuana, on the other hand, alleviates pain and about the worst thing
that happens to recreational pot smokers is a little weight gain from late
night snacks of Cheezies and M&Ms.